Virtual reality can be viewed as a computer-generated simulated environment in which a user has an apparent physical presence. A virtual reality experience can be generated in 3D and viewed with a head-mounted display (HMD), such as glasses or other wearable display device that has near-eye display panels as lenses to display a virtual reality environment, which replaces the actual environment. Augmented reality, however, provides that a user can still see through the display lenses of the glasses or other wearable display device to view the surrounding environment, yet also see images of virtual objects that are generated for display and appear as a part of the environment. Augmented reality can include any type of input such as audio and haptic inputs, as well as virtual images, graphics, and video that enhances or augments the environment that a user experiences. As an emerging technology, there are many challenges and design constraints with augmented reality, from generation of the virtual objects and images so that they appear realistic in a real environment, to developing the optics small and precise enough for implementation with a wearable display device.
A challenge to the implementation of wearable display devices, such as a head-mounted display (HMD), for augmented reality is the manufacture of reflective array waveguides that are utilized as both see-through and reflecting waveguides in the two, independent right and left display lens systems of a wearable display device. Reflective array waveguides include embedded, partially-reflecting mirror panels that are fabricated with a mirror coating applied to one side of each mirror panel, and then the partially-reflecting mirror panels are adhered together to form a waveguide. However, the intense heat that is utilized during the fabrication process to apply the mirror coating, along with the subsequent cooling, can cause warping or a deflection of the mirror panels, which results in a distorted view of a virtual image and/or the surrounding environment when a user looks through the waveguides in the display lens systems of the wearable display device.